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Author Topic: Dramatic best match changes...  (Read 11755 times)

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« on: November 23, 2007, 14:34 »
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It appears that from now on, no contributor can have more than two results in the first 100 search results.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 14:36 by hatman12 »


vonkara

« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2007, 15:16 »
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It's make some people who talk about these changes...Could you give where you pick that? I have a very good month there and I wonder to know exactly why, I'm curious about that.

« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2007, 15:16 »
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I just tried it an that's not what's happening. I searched on "picnic table" and Tacojim has three in the first twenty. Is this something they want to implement in the future? Plus what happens if you have less than 100 in a search and it's dominated by a couple of contributors...
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 15:26 by zorki »

« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2007, 15:22 »
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...Could you give where you pick that? ...

The thread on IS is here.

« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2007, 15:27 »
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Hmmm... I see that thread, but if it's supposed to be in effect it's not working yet...

« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2007, 15:29 »
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I just tried it an that's not what's happing. I searched on "picnic table" and Tacojim has three in the first twenty.
Better look closer ... my "picnic table" search shows only 2 by tacojim.
A search in my market niche shows only 2 of my files in the top 100 (in 3rd & 4th place - yay for me!), where there used to be over a dozen. One of my shots is also in 101st place, which gives me a little bonus.

This best match search is definitely in place. My IS sales were down by about 50% yesterday and today isn't looking much better, but that may due to the big American holiday. As to how this search change will affect sales in the long run, we'll just have to wait and see.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 15:36 by sharply_done »

« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2007, 15:34 »
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Argh!  :'(  Ignore me... I had multiple browers open at once and somehow this one got set to "Downloads"

This brings up something else... Did you see Abzee's comment about inserting "artichoke" into the keywords of one of his world map files. If you search on "artichoke" it is the fourth in best match search. I'm not sure what that tells me, but there is something about his status at IS that ranks this file high in best match.

« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2007, 16:49 »
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that sounds like a welcomed change.

« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2007, 17:57 »
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I've just started contributing to Alamy and think their "Alamy ranking" is very clever: IS and other micro sites should implement something similar in their best match or whatever algorithm.

Contributor ranking is computed as "nb of thumbnails views / (nb of full views + nb of sales)". The lower, the better.

This idea is nice to prevent keyword spamming as in this case, you will have many thumbnails views from search results, but only a few full views/purchases which will put your pictures further in search results.

Sounds good to me.


« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 18:12 by araminta »

« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2007, 18:26 »
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Nice change, although maybe a bit radical (just two of the same contributor).  I'll check how some of my best-sellers perform.

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #10 on: November 23, 2007, 18:46 »
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I can't believe that they are making such a drastic change during the Christmas rush for the second year in a row.

« Reply #11 on: November 23, 2007, 19:44 »
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Yes... it's a good reason to stay diversified amongst many different agencies.

digiology

« Reply #12 on: November 23, 2007, 22:29 »
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I am very pleased!  :D

« Reply #13 on: November 23, 2007, 22:33 »
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It appears that the "niche guys" and people with large portfolios are going to take a beating with this one. Perhaps this is just a temporary fix until they figure something else out??

Personally I like the idea of beefing up security. I know some people might be happy with the new change, but If you shoot nothing but beaches and women or Ice bergs because you live in Alaska, its going to hurt. Surely there must be a better solution?

« Reply #14 on: November 23, 2007, 23:21 »
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I am worried about this...although the way IS has been going for me since they first changed the best match, I am not surprised and am glad that other agencies still beat IS for income each month.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 23:23 by phildate »

« Reply #15 on: November 24, 2007, 00:56 »
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I know my idea will get lost in the IS thread but here is how I'd fix the problem:

Algorithm: For the first month the image is available for download you make the value given to the dl/mo variable equal to the corresponding value on an exponential growth curve. So the first download would be worth 0, second 1, third 2, forth 4, fifth 8, etc. This value would have to be normalized according to whatever value you give to other secret variables in the best match algorithm.

The algorithm would make it cost prohibitive to download the image enough to game the system, while allowing truly good images to shine. After the first month the algorithm could go back to what it was before. Criticisms welcome.

« Reply #16 on: November 24, 2007, 04:31 »
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I'd say out of all the ideas I've seen thrown up this is by far the most subtle, make sure you punt it in the current  lead thread on this, I don't recall seeing it there.

I've been appalled by this situation a real kick in the teeth for anyone who dares to do well in a given niche.


I know my idea will get lost in the IS thread but here is how I'd fix the problem:

Algorithm: For the first month the image is available for download you make the value given to the dl/mo variable equal to the corresponding value on an exponential growth curve. So the first download would be worth 0, second 1, third 2, forth 4, fifth 8, etc. This value would have to be normalized according to whatever value you give to other secret variables in the best match algorithm.

The algorithm would make it cost prohibitive to download the image enough to game the system, while allowing truly good images to shine. After the first month the algorithm could go back to what it was before. Criticisms welcome.

« Reply #17 on: November 24, 2007, 04:51 »
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I fear that will be very very bad for me, since I am a niche photographer with almost all my good sellers in the top 100 search results of one particular niche. And they were there, because they are one of the best of this particular niche and not because I cheated the system. :-(

DanP68

« Reply #18 on: November 26, 2007, 01:00 »
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I too am a niche photographer.  I assume this will hit me hard, but I really don't know.  It may actually bring sales up in other categories to the point where my overall sales will even out.

But that's not the point.  The fact that they are doing something this drastic, and this desperate, is what troubles me.  They have identified a real problem.  But once again their solution seems so extreme and without forethought. 

To think 1 month ago I was dead set on going exclusive with iStockphoto.  A month later, Shutterstock has passed iStockphoto in overall portfolio earnings for the first time ever, and now yet another humongous change has been made to the best match.

They just cannot leave well enough alone.  Nor can they seemingly make cautious tweaks.  Every move is performed with a sledge hammer. 

« Reply #19 on: November 26, 2007, 08:54 »
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WOW! Now I get why my sale fell dramatically last week! Monday was a record day for me on IS and the rest for the week, my sales were down 30% from my average. For me 30% is a lot of $$$. Let's hope things pick up again or else I'll be loosing hundreds of $$/month because of this.  :(

« Reply #20 on: November 26, 2007, 09:10 »
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I'm not too worried because of the fact that designers just need to learn how to use the new system.  Every time they make a change, sales dip, then they find out how it works for them and I go back to regular downloads.

« Reply #21 on: November 26, 2007, 11:05 »
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WOW! Now I get why my sale fell dramatically last week! Monday was a record day for me on IS and the rest for the week, my sales were down 30% from my average. For me 30% is a lot of $$$. Let's hope things pick up again or else I'll be loosing hundreds of $$/month because of this.  :(

Nothing to do with Thanksgiving holiday in the US then?!

« Reply #22 on: November 26, 2007, 11:11 »
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As long as the designers realize that there are more top rated pictures after result 100 not much has been lost to the niche photographers. Perhaps it even encourages them to browse somebodies portfolio in order to find similar images.

« Reply #23 on: November 26, 2007, 11:41 »
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Monday was a record day for me on IS and the rest for the week, my sales were down 30% from my average.

best match changed on Thursday, so it could not have been affected Tuesday and Wednesday results ...

« Reply #24 on: November 26, 2007, 15:36 »
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so maybe it was Thanks Giving then... I sure hope so! We'll see this week.

« Reply #25 on: November 26, 2007, 23:16 »
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My sales have been terrible for November and this new best match has only made things worse. I guess I am a niche shooter (people - mainly Asians) and to only have 2 images show up in first 100 on a search like "Asian Woman Business" is going to restrict. On the searches I have tried, I get images in the first 100 normally but they are not my best images so I see two problems.

1. How is the current best match working?
2. The restriction of 2 images per photographer.

Solutions...haven't really had time to think about it but one solution could be to allow a proportionate number to the size of portfolio, or the no. of files in portfolio with those keywords.

« Reply #26 on: November 28, 2007, 06:45 »
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I just tried it an that's not what's happing. I searched on "picnic table" and Tacojim has three in the first twenty.
Better look closer ... my "picnic table" search shows only 2 by tacojim.
A search in my market niche shows only 2 of my files in the top 100 (in 3rd & 4th place - yay for me!), where there used to be over a dozen. One of my shots is also in 101st place, which gives me a little bonus.

This best match search is definitely in place. My IS sales were down by about 50% yesterday and today isn't looking much better, but that may due to the big American holiday. As to how this search change will affect sales in the long run, we'll just have to wait and see.


I can see why, you're probably the best airliner guy on IS and this new best match search has killed your shot's which used to cover most of the first couple of pages.

« Reply #27 on: November 28, 2007, 07:34 »
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This month saw a drop by about 50% from my Oct sales, looks to be one of my worst month in quite a while  :(

All the more reason I should keep submitting to a few agencies with my small portfolio.  :P

Hope the situation improves for everyone.

 8)

« Reply #28 on: November 28, 2007, 09:16 »
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Things were chugging along fine until last week, but it was probably a combination of Thanksgiving in the USA and the best match changes. SS and DT have done much better in the past 10 days...

« Reply #29 on: November 28, 2007, 10:54 »
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This was a majorly bad decision on the part of Istockphoto , at least from the point of view of many contributors (guaranteed fewer downloads :().  I hope they modify it soon!!  So sad that they feel they have to make such a negatively influential change just because of some former members' shady dealings.

One more nail in the coffin of exclusivity, for me.

digiology

« Reply #30 on: November 29, 2007, 00:24 »
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I see the best match has changed to 3 images per 100 now.  :o

« Reply #31 on: November 29, 2007, 10:26 »
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I see the best match has changed to 3 images per 100 now.  :o

It looks like they went ahead and made another best match change.  This is becoming a weekly event.  They might have changed it to be proportional to the size of the portfolio.  Anyone know?

If you search on "Christmas", you will find one contributor with 11 images in the top 100.

digiology

« Reply #32 on: November 29, 2007, 11:18 »
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I got the 3 out of 100 from monitoring a few lightboxes. But it appears when doing a actual search  the best match has gone back to the way it was before.

I was happy with the 2/100 but did not like how it hurt the niche photographers whose work I have come to admire so much. That being said - having 7/20 almost identical shots come up on the first page of the best match search is not good either.

Obviously they cannot find a happy medium. Oh well - back to page 20 (if I am lucky) :)

ALTPhotoImages

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« Reply #33 on: November 29, 2007, 12:05 »
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Well I've never been good at acronyms, but am I the only one that raises an eye brow with the one in this topic?  I have enough fiber in my life thank you  ;)

« Reply #34 on: November 29, 2007, 17:41 »
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Yes, they appear to have changed it again. *sigh*

It now looks like 7/100.

How people keep track of all these things is beyond me.  Perhaps its best just to have one's head in the sand and hope for the best......

« Reply #35 on: November 29, 2007, 17:53 »
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I tried "stock market graphs" yesterday and didn't get any of mine in the first 60.  So disappointing.  :(

Regards,
Adelaide


 

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